Kleptomania
by Ryuuza
Summary: [InuKai] Inui is not a thief. He's just...experimenting.


_InuKai, shounen-ai, not mine._

_For **aaincognito**'s birthday way back in January._

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_**Kleptomania  
**by Ryuuza 

On Monday, Kaidoh noticed his towel missing. Surveying the empty bench with a blank look, he shrugged at length and swiped Momoshiro's.

On Tuesday, his water bottle went missing. Wondering if he'd forgotten to bring it (but no, he'd had it before practice, hadn't he?) or if he'd just misplaced it, he turned away stoically and quenched his thirst at the fountain.

On Wednesday, his change of clothes disappeared, leaving Kaidoh staring blankly at his locker. He scowled. While he wasn't exactly what you could call the _fussy_ type, he _was_ sweaty and exhausted after a two-hour practice and his sore body demanded a hot shower…which was rendered impossible without a change of clothes.

Kaidoh was _not_ liking the way the week was progressing.

Still dressed in his sticky uniform, he trudged home, scowling, bag slung over his shoulder.

On Thursday, Kaidoh checked all his belongings in an almost paranoid manner before practice and again during break. A quick scan after practice assured him that everything was still in its place, as he'd left it, and that he wouldn't be walking home in dirty clothes today. Satisfied, he gathered his things and headed toward the showers.

After the shower, though, he was more than dismayed to find that the thief had struck again; someone had stolen his towel. Again.

And that someone was standing in the entrance to the showers, stolen towel slung over one shoulder, head bent over a notebook, and hand moving in small, precise strokes over paper. (Kaidoh was certain he'd seen an evil glint off those glasses as well.)

He stood there a moment, frozen, wondering how he'd gotten into this predicament and, more importantly, how he was going to get out of it with as little mental and emotional damage as possible.

To start, he turned so he was facing the tiled wall. "Inui-senpai?" he croaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Um, senpai?"

There was a pause in the scratch of the pen. "Yes, Kaidoh?"

Hoping fervently that all the other regulars had left already so there was no one who could accidentally stumble upon his humiliation, Kaidoh asked in a low voice, "Could you hand me that towel?"

A heartbeat. "No."

Kaidoh's eyes widened briefly at the abrupt answer. "Why?" he blurted out. Then he immediately cursed himself for sounding so…surprised. He shouldn't question his senpai.

…but why wasn't Inui going to give him his towel, for crying out loud?

"I seem to have developed a fondness for it."

Kaidoh forgot himself further and turned around, staring.

"It is a well-made article, both efficient and effective, and comfortable as well. Its multi-purpose uses appeal to me."

He blinked.

"I like the color…" This statement was less-definite and had an almost question-like tilt to the end.

He continued staring.

"…it matches my uniform?"

Kaidoh moved his stare from Inui to the dark blue towel slung over Inui's shoulder to Inui again. Still, he said nothing.

Inui broke eye contact and his pen moved again as he mumbled to himself, "Subject does not respond well to carefully fabricated prevarications. Reaction is only 7 variable from prediction, 12 error. Not intolerable."

"Senpai?" Kaidoh finally ventured, knowing better than to even broach the subject of Inui's calculations.

Inui glanced up, his expression blasé and unrevealing. "Hm?"

"Have you been ste—" Kaidoh stopped, unsure of whether or not accusing the other of stealing was a good idea. He may have been annoyed, but it was better being annoyed than being subjected to life-threatening concoctions on a daily basis… He coughed. "—borrowing my things all week?"

There was the faintest glimmer of a smile on Inui's face before he quickly schooled his features back into passivity. "I wouldn't call it 'borrowing,'" he commented calmly, tucking the pen in the notebook and shutting it. He returned Kaidoh's look blandly, arm and notebook falling to his side.

"What would you call it then?"

"Appropriating for a variable amount of time as means to conducting an experiment," was the answer.

Kaidoh scowled. Inui and his experiments. He was sure he didn't want to know. Still, though… He couldn't help himself. "What experiment?"

"I was testing the amount of time before the vanishing personal items triggered an active response from you and if it was possible for that aggression to be tempered before it fully manifested itself."

"…"

"The conclusion is: yes."

Kaidoh's scowl deepened. "Only you, senpai," he growled, avoiding Inui's eyes. "Now can I have my towel?"

Inui's mouth curved into a definite smile, glasses glinting in the dim light of the shower area. "Finders keepers."

_end

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